Lots of social media news out this week and here’s a summary of the top five stories you need to know.

1. Pinterest improves organic reach for retailers

Pinterest has launched a personalized “shopping hub” that displays at the top of users’ feeds with product recommendations pulled from retailers’ organic ProductPins and Catalog feeds.

The image-based network also rolled out an updated shopping section that will display below Product Pins, highlighting Catalog content from the respective brand.

This lets retailers expand their organic reach.

2. Native scheduling comes to Instagram, finally!

For the first time ever, Instagram now provides the capacity to scheduled native posts. It’s available via CreatorStudio, a dashboard that allows business and creator account holders to manage their posts on desktop devices.

To access Creator Studio, you must have an Instagram business account, an Instagram creator account or a Facebook page.

I’m happy for this news! I manage a number of Insta accounts on behalf of clients and this automation will help with the workload. And, the algorithm favours native content over that posted via 3rd party apps. That means more impressions and broader reach! Better results overall.

3. Twitter keeps getting better & stronger

Twitter continues to grow, reporting a profit of $37m for the second quarter as its revenue and its user base grow.

Total ad engagements were up 20 per cent in a year, bringing it to $727m for the quarter (up 21 per cent). Data licensing was up 4% to $114m. Revenue was split $455m in the US against $386m, internationally. The US grew at twice the rate of international at 24 per cent.

Twitter said video ad formats continued to show strength, pointing at the Video Website Card, In-Stream Video Ads, and First View ad formats. Data licensing and other revenue totaled $114m, an increase of 4 per cent.

4. New services listings on LinkedIn

Linkedin is helping SMBs promote services.

Small and midsize business owners can now list their services on their LinkedIn profile pages.

When an SMB owner adds service listings to his or her individual profile, it will automatically show up in relevant search results.

“From now on, members looking for help will be able to filter their general LinkedIn searches for service providers,” writes LinkedIn’s Group Product Manager Vidya Chandra on the LinkedIn blog, “When you add services to your profile, you’ll show up in these search results.”

LinkedIn says it will soon be adding easy ways for members to message SMBs directly.

5. Will Facebook soon be reading our minds?

Facebookhas had a breakthrough in its plan to create a device that allows people to type just by thinking.

It has funded a study that developed machine-learning algorithms capable of turning brain activity into speech.

Facebook hopes it will pave the way for a “fully non-invasive, wearable device” that can process 100 words per minute.

I can already type a hundred words a minute, but it would be cool not to have to.

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